


The Monk's Sceptre

by LeDiz



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, NCIS
Genre: Gen, Kinda Weird, Witches, set somewhere after season four of NCIS, space-time travel, very unfinished
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 18:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7944565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeDiz/pseuds/LeDiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Gibbs meet a weird pair of Japanese teenagers that set them on edge. The teenagers seem to think they have bigger problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Monk's Sceptre

It had not been a good week.

            In all honesty, Tony supposed, some people would have preferred it to most weeks. No Navy personnel had been murdered in their area, no major cash fraud, no one needed protection, and there had most definitely not been any kidnappings. Nothing had happened since they had closed the Samson case last week. That, for most people, probably would have been considered a good week.

            But that was why they let things pile up sometimes. Paperwork could be put off until later. Files could be backed up another day. Evaluations, coaching, formal ceremonies and briefing sessions could all wait until there were no cases.

            So, for the past six working days, the entire team had been hard at work catching up. Tim was revelling in the data, and Ziva was much easier to tease when she was bored and laid back, but Gibbs had developed a tic over his left eyebrow, and Tony was starting to realise just how much work was done on the computer these days, and how very computer illiterate he was.

            This did not make him feel particularly useful.

            But just as he was considering pulling out his glasses in an attempt to try his ‘smart look’ again, Gibbs announced something to make Tony’s life even worse: they were opening up the Cold Case Files.

            It wasn’t just that Tony had done his stint in Baltimore Cold Case Files and was completely over the department, or that it clearly meant that even Tim was sick of paperwork, but rather that, unlike the Police Department, a case was never dropped at NCIS due to a lack of time or funding.

            At NCIS, a case was only ever dropped when there really wasn’t any leads.

            “Look, buddy,” Tony leaned over the bar to meet the bartender’s glare on level. “I understand the whole barkeep privilege thing, I do. Hell, there have been some nights I’m damn grateful for it. But it’s not a legally binding thing.”

            “So what?”

            Gibbs finally looked away from the pool hall to join the discussion. “It means that if you don’t tell us what we want to know, we can haul your ass in for obstruction.”

            The bartender scowled, shifting his weight back. “You’re asking me about some guy that walked in here six months ago –”

            “Seven, actually,” Tony corrected grimly. Damn, but he hated Cold Case days.

            “You honestly expect me to remember who the hell you’re talking about? I don’t remember half of last night’s customers!”

            “Yeah, well, normally I’d believe you, I would,” Tony said brightly, glancing around as he felt a slight change in the bar’s atmosphere. When they had walked in, the room was loud but bored. But now, the tone had changed; the laughter a little more focussed, and several drinkers were standing up to crowd around one of the corners. But they weren’t looking this way, and Gibbs had his eyes on the group, so Tony went back to the barkeep. “But the thing is, this particular guy probably told you something pretty damn heavy, I’m thinking, which kind of goes beyond the whole ‘I cheated on my wife’ sob-story/confession a good bartender forgets five minutes after the confesser has left. So, you know, it’s kind of a little more likely that you remember this particular guy and his story.”

            “From seven months ago,” the bartender repeated, but his eyes had lifted from Tony to focus on the crowded corner. His jaw twitched as a distinct growl cut through the laughter, and he gave Tony a look. “I got a business to run here, y’mind?”

            “I appreciate that. But we’re irritable cops with an old case to close,” he said lightly, and leaned over the bar as if in confidence. “You can either finish with us here and now, or you can deal with those guys after we release you from our interrogation room back at HQ, okay?”

            “We’d be happy to accommodate you,” Gibbs said, offering a lazy glance before going back to the crowd. “Should only take, oh, what do you think, Tony? Four, five hours?”

            “Sounds –” The rest of Tony’s sentence was cut off by a splash and a female shriek, and they all spun around to face the scene in the corner.

            Two teenagers stood surrounded by bar patrons: a boy wearing a baseball cap and a long, white wig, and a pretty Asian girl whose shirt had just been soaked in what had to have been a beer pitcher. There were at least ten bar patrons, all fully grown and well-muscled men, several of which were definitely war-ready marines, and the teenage boy looked ready to throw a punch.

            “Hey, lighten up! We just wanted to make you feel at home,” one of the men jeered, and Tony let out a quiet breath as Gibbs immediately started walking forward, fists clenched and ready.

            “We’re not done with you,” Tony told the barkeep, who threw up his hands.

            “They’re regulars,” he said by way of explanation, and Tony rolled his eyes before hurrying to follow his boss.

            “Oh, look at that, she’s cold!” a marine crowed.

            “I bet I can warm her up,” another chuckled, stepping forward, but he hadn’t even put his foot down before the boy swung. His fist connected with the man’s jaw with an audible crack, and the marine was thrown into another, both of them hitting the floor hard.

            “Hey!”

            “Who the hell do you think you are?”

            Another marine went for the kid’s neck, but one hand was caught halfway there, and he was yanked forward to where the boy could slam one knee up into his solar plexus and kick him back into someone else. The next marine’s punch was ducked as the kid spun beneath it to head butt his attacker, turn in place to punch one of the civilians and then shove them both out of the fight.

            “Hey!” Gibbs shouted, but Tony noticed he had paused just outside the fight. And for good reason – they had started out with the intention of stopping the men, but it looked like the marines were the ones who needed help. Tony hesitated, looking at Gibbs for guidance, but Gibbs just scowled, wavering in place for a second before heading in. “What’re you waiting for, DiNozzo? Break it up!”

            “On it, Boss!” he snapped automatically, but didn’t move, trying to figure out how exactly he was supposed to do that. Eventually he just rushed forward and grabbed a bruised fighter to yank him back. “Are you really stupid enough to try and assault a minor in front of two feds? Really?”

            Gibbs didn’t bother talking, but rather snatched two marines by their collars and just tossed them to the floor, keeping them down with his best glare. He repeated it twice more until he reached the kid, who immediately stopped fighting to look at him, still holding a furious marine by the shirt.

            “Inuyasha?” the girl murmured, but the kid didn’t look around. He just straightened, lowering his head to look out from under his cap.

            “Put him down,” Gibbs said, gesturing to the marine, but the kid’s head only twitched, as if he hadn’t understood.

            “Teme…” growled the kid, and Tony raised an eyebrow. Granted, his knowledge of the Japanese language extended from _The Seven Samurai_ to _Howl’s Moving Castle_ , but there were some words he knew in any language.

            “Think he knows you, Boss,” he said lightly. “That’s Japanese for –”

            “I know what it means,” he snapped, then pulled his head back appraisingly. “You know any Japanese that can be said in polite conversation?”

            “I can get him through a good meal at any restaurant.”

            “You’re a real help, DiNozzo.”

            “Uh… excuse me,” the girl said, stepping forward, and they both looked at her. She had her arms up to cover what her now transparent shirt would not, but she still managed a slight bow. “Are we in trouble?”

            “You speak English?” asked Gibbs, and she hesitated, her smile wavering paper-thin.

            Eventually, she decided not to answer, and instead turned to hiss at the kid. “Put the guy down, you’re not helping!”

            He muttered something back in rapid, angry Japanese, and she stared at him, clearly frustrated.

            “Better do what she says,” said Tony, and he pulled out his ID. “You just beat up a bunch of marines, and we’re NCIS.”

            “NCIS?” the girl repeated.

            “Navy cops.”

            She continued staring at him blankly. “Okay?”

            Gibbs took a breath and stepped forward, reaching for the half-beaten marine, but before he could touch him, the kid shoved the marine away and grabbed Gibbs’ wrist instead, twisting it around and sending him to his knees with a shout. Tony immediately yanked out his Sig and snapped off the safety.

            “It’s been six years since I had to shoot at a kid,” he said, sighting it for the kid’s shoulder. “Don’t make me break that record.”

            “Let him go! You can’t do that to a police officer!” the girl shrieked, and the kid glanced at her, then sighed and pushed Gibbs away, pulling himself up straight again. Tony licked his lips, glancing down as Gibbs staggered back to his feet, and then raised his eyebrows at the girl.

            “I think you two had better come with us,” he said quietly, and she nodded, glaring at her friend.

 

* * *

 

“Feeling better?”

            The girl – Kagome Higurashi, according to what she’d told them in the car – smiled at him as he handed her a can of coke. She still smelt of the beer the marines had thrown at her, but Ziva had dug out a spare shirt for her to wear and it seemed to make her a lot happier. She’d curled into one of the conference room chairs like it was the most comfortable seat she’d had in a week. Her friend – Just Inuyasha, she’d told them – kept shifting, as if he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to sit.

            “Yeah, thanks. I’ll be even better once I can have a hot shower. And once I know we’re not going to get arrested,” she added, and Tony grimaced as he held a solo out for Inuyasha, who nodded in silent gratitude.

            “Well, that one might be a little tough. Your friend did single-handedly take down six marines and two of their well-muscled friends. And looked like he would have gone on to the rest if we hadn’t stopped him,” He let out a long breath as he sank into the chair opposite them. “But, then, you never know. The marines might prefer it didn’t get out that a fifteen year old took them all down.”

            “They shouldn’t feel bad. Inuyasha’s a lot stronger than he looks.”

            Tony hesitated, suddenly fascinated by Inuyasha opening his can. Now that Tony looked, he could see that the kid’s nails were thick and tough… more like claws than human nails. The thought made Tony look up at the kid’s yellow contacts, and then around at the silvery-white hair that hung thicker and longer than any wig he’d ever seen. But the clothes he was wearing were hardly completing the costume – the zipped, hooded jacket and cargo pants seemed out of place. He made a mental note to figure the costume out before the end of the interview.

            “So why don’t you tell me what happened before Special Agent Gibbs and I showed up?” he asked, switching his attention back to Kagome.

            She grimaced, touching a glittering jewel that hung around her neck. “We’re looking for a… well, I guess it would look like a kind of sceptre thing? It’s… it’s an old family heirloom, and it brought us here.”

            “The search for it?”

            She blinked, confused, then forced a smile and nodded. “Yes. That’s right. Anyway. We lost it, and our search for it led us to that bar, but those soldiers…” She trailed off, glancing at Inuyasha, who was making quite a show of not paying attention to what she was saying. “Inuyasha doesn’t speak any English, but he could tell when those soldiers started getting creepy. Course, they were being so forward, you would’ve had to have been blind, deaf and dumb not to have noticed, so, you know. Anyway, one of them threw the beer, and it went all over me, and that’s just wrong, so –”

            “So Inuyasha tried to defend your honour, which is when we stepped in,” Tony finished for her, and she gestured to him in silent agreement. He drummed his fingers against the table, looking between them thoughtfully. “So, if Inuyasha doesn’t speak any English, he’s not from around here. Japanese, right?”

            “Yes. We’re from Tokyo,” she said, and Tony narrowed his eyes as she sipped at her coke.

            “You speak pretty great English for a tourist.”

            She stiffened, no longer drinking even though she kept her can to her lips. She had barely moved, but somehow Inuyasha seemed to have realised something was wrong, because he was suddenly completely focussed on the conversation. Kagome glanced at him, then slowly put her can down and spread her hands over the table.

            “Uhm… School taught me really well,” she said cautiously, and Tony tilted his head back.

            “But not Inuyasha?”

            Recognising his name, Inuyasha glanced at Tony, then back at Kagome, whose hand jerked toward her necklace again before settling back on the table. Inuyasha immediately stood up, placing his solo in the middle of the table.

            “Ikouse, Kagome,” he said firmly. She nodded and stood up, but Tony just watched them for a second before making any attempt to stop them.

            “You’re not under arrest,” he said calmly, circling the rim of his own drink when they stopped moving. “But you’re not exactly free to go.”

            Kagome repeated the words under her breath, so quietly that any lesser man wouldn’t have heard them, and Inuyasha sneered before snapping something that Tony had no hope of following. He could guess what someone might say to that, though, and smiled.

            “You might be able to get out of the building, and the city, but we’re a federal agency. We can make it very hard for you to move around the country. Or out,” he added, then gestured to the seats. “How about this? I don’t know how much of our laws you know, but I’ll tell you this: you’re free to ignore any question of mine you don’t want to answer. Okay?”

            Kagome hesitated, then sighed and nodded to Inuyasha. “Grandmother Kaede did suggest we try talking our way out of this one, remember?”

            Inuyasha just rolled his eyes and turned away, heading over to the window instead, and Kagome sat back at the table. Once again, Tony couldn’t help but notice Inuyasha seemed to understand Kagome’s English perfectly, but he knew better than to ask now. He turned his attention back to Kagome, who slowly sat down opposite him, lacing her fingers around her coke again. Tony forced a charming smile.

            “So. How about we start with where you’re staying right now?”

 

* * *

 

After the old man had gestured for the guard to join him in the hall, Inuyasha looked at Kagome again, no longer bothering to keep his voice level.

            “Let’s get out of here,” he repeated. “There’s too many people in your world—”

            “If this even is my world,” she interjected, and he twitched.

            “—the scents become mixed too quickly. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find that bitch’s scent again.” He glanced out the window, flexing his fists uncomfortably. “And I don’t like this area. It reeks of oil, even worse than the rest of your world.”

            “Are you okay?”

            He didn’t answer verbally, but tightened his arms over his chest and turned his head a little further away. He would be fine as long as they didn’t spend too long outside, away from the ‘clean’ air conditioning.

            “I don’t know what to do. That cop was telling the truth, I think – it used to be all over the American TV I watched – American federal agents can do pretty much anything they like these days. If they don’t want us to leave, we won’t get far without going through a lot of people,” she said, then smiled wearily. “I may not spend much time in this world any more, but I still don’t want to be an international criminal.”

            “What was he saying before that made you so nervous?” he asked. “What had you reaching for the Frozen Tongue?”

            She grimaced. “He noticed that you can understand what I’m saying, but not him.”

            “Why didn’t you tell him the necklace can change what you hear to our language?”

            “Because magic doesn’t exist here. At least, most people don’t think it does. Have you ever met a demon in this world? ’Cause I sure haven’t!” She stopped at his dark look, tilting her head a little. “What? You saw a demon?”

            “No,” he said, then pushed off the window to walk over and stand beside her. “But I’ve seen a lot of people like you, Miroku and Sango.”

            She pursed her lips, thinking about it. “I guess… I mean, it’s one thing for demons to have died out, but demonic and spiritual energy is natural in some humans.” She glanced back at the door. “You’re thinking about those two.”

            “The old one is a warrior. A fallen samurai, or the closest thing they have in this world,” he said, then lowered his head to glare out from under his hat. “The other one, though… he reminds me of Kouga.”

            “He seems a lot smarter than Kouga-kun,” she said mildly, and he snorted.

            “It’s not hard.”

            “Inuyasha…” She gave him a cursory glance of reprimand, but quickly refocussed on the door. “When I say he seems smarter than Kouga-kun, I mean that I don’t think he’ll be as easy to fool. I think he already knows more about us than we want him to.”

            “Yeah. Like Miroku,” he muttered. “Always sees more than he lets on.”

            “I don’t know what to do,” she confessed, turning back to him. “We need to find the Monk’s Sceptre and get back to our own world. But if you can’t smell Witch Ouzo, and those two keeping an eye on us…”

            He scowled, folding his arms tight across his chest. “Let’s just get out of this building.”

            “And go where? They’ll chase us.”

            “I can outrun them.”

            “For how long? We don’t know where we are, where to look, and even with those clothes, you don’t exactly fit in around here,” she pointed out. “We don’t have any weapons. We can’t fight our way out of this one.”

            “Kagome…”

            “Inuyasha.”

            He stared at her for a minute, then huffed out a breath and sat back against the table, glaring at the wall. “I don’t think good. You do it.”

            She grimaced but nodded, leaning back in her chair. This would require finesse, subtlety and a quick mind… something neither of them were really that good at.

 

* * *

 

Much the same conversation was happening out in the hall, where Gibbs leaned back against the hall and watched Tony pretend to be waiting for instruction. Really, he could tell, Tony’s mind was racing with everything he’d learned so far, trying to figure out their next move. He was just doing it while staring at Gibbs expectantly.

            “The marines are happy to forget what happened,” he said finally, and Tony pulled his head back in a quiet nod. “We could let the kids go.”

            “You really want to do that, Boss?”

            He raised his eyebrows, and Tony licked his lips, glancing back down the hall. “They’re involved in something, Boss. I just don’t know what. Probably nothing to do with us, but…” He hesitated, his eyes flicking toward Gibbs before focussing on the middle distance beside them. “I got a feeling.”

            “Your gut?”

            “Not so much.”

            Gibbs paused, assessing the look. Then he wanted to groan, slap Tony upside the head, or just walk away. Possibly all three. He knew that look – it was the same look Tony got whenever they encountered religious freaks or psychics or Abby’s friends. One of the few things they really disagreed on was this idea that there was something more out there. Gibbs was all for God and spirituality and all that junk, but Tony actually _believed_ in it.

            “I’m not saying anything,” Tony said firmly, hitting that thought away with a jerky movement. “I’m just… the girl speaks better English than I do, and the guy understands her perfectly, but anyone else…? And they’re talking about sceptres and stalking and… Did you see the way that kid took down those marines? Boss, he could’ve floored us, guns or no, and I really think he’s got half a mind to break out of here the hard way. He’d make it, too.”

            “We’ve seen super soldiers before, DiNozzo.”

            “In a kid that size? _I_ was bigger than him at fifteen, and I had nothing on the footballers.”

            He scowled, looking away, and Tony sank back against the opposite wall with a sigh. For a long moment, they didn’t meet each other’s gaze, and Tony shook his head. “Even if they are just kids, I don’t believe this story of theirs about looking for an old family heirloom. They case out every room they go into, and even the girl looks like she’s done more than your average teenager. And her fingers are calloused.” He rubbed his thumb over his index and middle fingers meaningfully, and Gibbs nodded.

            “They’re not tourists.”

            Tony looked at him properly again, actually expectant this time, and Gibbs met his gaze. Tony was probably going to get involved whether Gibbs ordered it or not, but the question was whether the rest of the team needed to know. Even if they did leave the team out of it, it was another question of whether he gave Tony free reign to investigate, or ordered him not to, thereby guaranteeing Tony would just give up sleep in order to check out the kids off company time.

            His lip twitched. The last thing he needed was a repeat of the Frog year.

            “You’ve got twenty-four hours. If you don’t have anything by then, you leave it alone,” he said, but cut Tony off with a finger before he could respond. “I mean it, DiNozzo. You don’t have anything by then, you do _not_ investigate. Am I understood?”

            Tony’s eyes narrowed slightly as he weighed his options, but he eventually nodded. “Yes, Boss.”

            “Good. Now go.”

**Author's Note:**

> The 48 are a collection of unfinished fics saved to my hard drive, now posted on Ao3 for people's interest or in case they want to adopt them.
> 
> I kind of remember where I was going with this, but between what happened with NCIS and some real life stuff relating to this fic, I dropped this completely back in 2008, and it had been about a year since it had anything but minor edits too. I hope you enjoyed what there was of it though.


End file.
